"First of all... what you are about to hear is personal information that will give you the shock of your life. So... please don’t act imdiately after hearing it, stay calm."
All the happiness that had just been on the king’s face disappeared.
Anxiety.
Fear.
Anxiety.
I saw it all, in fleeting seconds, on Faelan Aroniel’s face.
"This will be about... your son. So I want you to avoid looking at his side as much as possible."
At first he was a little surprised to hear that it was about his son, Alith. But then he realized that he really wasn’t going to like what I was going to say and his brow furrowed.
He was so focused on that I felt an intense pressure, even though he wasn’t using mana.
Still, I couldn’t back down, so taking a deep breath... I started.
"You know what I am, right? The whole planet knows."
The king thought for a mont, but without waiting for him to find the answer, I answered my own question.
"I am a half-wiera, a condition of the soul and body to which most of Saligia and almost all of its officials belong, which allows the energy of chaos to be harnessed."
King Faelan nodded his head in agreent. As a world leader, he knew what I was talking about.
The Order should have told them almost everything about it.
"As a wiera, even half one, I am sensitive to caora because I am a bit special. I can instantly sense where it is being used, where it is concentrated, and where the stagnant caora in the atmosphere is headed."
King Faelan’s eyes gradually widened, as if realizing where this conversation was heading.
"And your son, Alith Aroniel, is surrounded by caora. So much so that... I have to force myself not to feel it."
His hands, his lips trembled, even if he sohow tried to remain calm no matter how he reacted in any situation.
Whereas before he had spoken decisively about the execution of Adrian and Alysia, now...
"D- don’t be ridiculous..."
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It was as if he had beco a much more fragile man.
"Alith Aroniel is a wiera, Your Royal Highness."
"I said, don’t be ridiculous!"
I kept my eyes on him, trying not to draw attention to myself. I didn’t change my tone at all so that the words would enter his mind properly.
"I’m sorry... but your son has most likely joined Saligia and is now simply a spy."
"L- lie-"
His words were cut off in an instant. His eyes were behind , where he looked whenever he wanted to make sure I was lying.
"A- Ah..."
He opened his mouth, tried to say sothing, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t stop his hands from shaking, maybe even tears would have co to his eyes if he wasn’t trying to stay calm.
"No, n- no... no..."
It was as if he had forgotten his pride as an elf, forgotten how he should act as a king in such a situation. And, of course, everyone in the chamber inevitably reacted to this situation.
The guards reacted the most.
The mont King Faelan’s posture, his expression deteriorated, all the mana in the chamber spun like a wild whirlpool.
I found four spears circling my neck, two more right in front of my eyes, ready to pierce my skull at any mont... and one last one touching my back.
The only thing that stopped them was King Faelan’s trembling hand in the air.
"S- stand back... he has done nothing wrong."
The guards did not even question the order. All the spears around retreated quickly, and their owners backed out of the sound barrier at the sa ti, but with slow steps. When they were all back in place, I studied the expressions of the others in the chamber.
I had not told Adrian, Alysia, or Julian that the prince was a wiera. I was the only one who knew, so the king’s reaction was unexpected even for them.
Aside from them, Queen Aranel looked quite worried. She wondered what words had put her husband in this state, but there were also traces of fear on her face. Phloria Aroniel was confused, locked on her father, trying to understand what was happening.
And so, I looked at the star of our current topic.
His mouth was agape, he was looking at his father with an expression of confusion and shock.
But then his eyes left his ’father’ and turned to . And... our eyes t.
At first, he gritted his teeth, as if he wanted to kill for putting him through whatever I had said to his father, but he was holding back.
But, then, as I kept looking at him, he tensed. After a while, beads of sweat began to collect on his forehead. And, finally, he looked away, as if he was scared.
I tore my eyes away from him and turned them to King Faelan.
"I- is it true...?"
"I can prove it right here and now if you w-"
"No, no..."
He swallowed, his eyes pleading.
"Is it true that the wieras are... a clone of their original selves?"
Ah, he’s talking about the fact that the person who erges after the transformation of the soul is not the original owner of the body, but a ’different’ person with the sa mories.
In short...
Is my son dead, he asks .
And there is only one answer I can give here...
"Yes, the person sitting on your left is not the original ’Alith’."
He has been replaced by another person who, even though possessing his personality, his emotions, his way of thinking, and his mories, can’t help behaving in a much more chaotic way.
A being who knows that he is not Alith Aroniel, but pretends to be him because he has no other identity.
And as ti passes, under the influence of the caora, he will lose even this identity and beco soone who knows nothing but chaos.
These are the wieras.
And if it hadn’t been for Sith... I would have been dead too, replaced by another ’’ who had everything.
"Count Ten-"
He paused, as if to correct himself.
"No, Aiden Tenebra..."
Just like , he had dropped the formality entirely.
He was no longer standing before as king of the elves.
He was Faelan Aroniel, father of Alith Aroniel.
"Yes, Faelan Aroniel."
I did not bow my head, I did not squint my eyes, I did not change my expression.
I simply addressed him, as he did .
He looked into my eyes at my words. And his lips reacted quite contrarily as if he didn’t know what to do.
He smiled, slightly.
"This... charlatan pretending to be my son..."
His next words were so forced that he almost didn’t understand them himself, as if he wasn’t sure what he was saying.
"Can we... kill... him?"
Did he even need to ask? He was the one who had already decided...
Although...
...
Ah, now I understand.
He... doesn’t want to understand, what I say and what cos out of his own mouth.
He doesn’t want to accept it.
That’s why he asks .
When I saw him like this... I couldn’t stop wondering.
I hadn’t seen Faelan Aroniel once in all my ti as a player. Toward the middle of the ga, before the player could do anything, he was killed by Saligia, causing Eshaware to fall to the dark elves.
Only... a few dialogues with his daughter, Phloria Aroniel, gave so idea of what he was like.
And from what she said about him, he was a man very loyal to his duty as a king. He was a strict man who valued his traditions, the World Tree, which they considered sacred, and the people he was supposed to rule. But... he also loved his family, he never ignored them. Behind the ’strict’ king he was, a husband and a father who cared deeply about his family existed.
That’s why I decided to use this thod in the first place, relying on what Phloria said in the ga.
I just... didn’t think he would react so strongly.
I paused for a mont, completely different thoughts popped into my mind this ti.
Humans, though this is an elf I’m dealing with, but... what a hypocrite they are, aren’t they?
They care so much about people who are associated with them, yet they can be so cruel to others, even if they are innocent, just because they are not related to them.
And I am also among these hypocrites.
It’s a funny irony.
Still... I have other things to focus on right now.
I answered his question in a very calm, cool manner.
"Sure, we can."
He seed to freeze at my words, as if his thoughts had been erased from his mind. His eyes flickered and he slowly started to turn in the direction of his son, but as soon as I noticed this, I interjected again without breaking my stance.
"But not now, tonight would be a better ti. With your wife and daughter here, I don’t think they will allow us to do anything without their knowledge. We also have to interrogate him, don’t you think?"
And again, he paused as if struck by a blow. His eyes, wide with shock, squinted slightly, he gritted his teeth but still managed to stop.
It seems that ntioning his family was the right option.
"Okay... fine."
I felt a sense of relief as I realized that he had cald down a little, that his thoughts were beginning to clear.
"Then... you can remove the sound barrier. Let’s end this eting for today."
And... he did what I told him to do.
First, he lifted the barrier. And the mont he did that... I realized that the chamber itself was actually not much different from the silence between the king and before.
"Faelan... what happened?"
Aranel Aroniel’s voice, the queen of the elves, echoed faintly. She had a worried look on her face, trying but failing to understand what had happened.
Faelan Aroniel clenched his teeth even more, unable to even look in her direction.
"There’s... no problem. It’s nothi-"
"What did he say, father?"
But the next voice literally made him stiffen.
"What kind of lie did he tell, what kind of confusion did he put in your mind, that you ended up like this?"
It was as if his mind had been reset again. But this ti, it was a bit different from what happened when he was talking to . Maybe few people would have noticed, but... I saw the corners of his lips curve upward just a little bit during his silence.
It was as if he wanted to burst into laughter but was holding it back.
Still, he did not refuse to answer his son, or rather his fake son who was pretending to be him.
"As he said, it’s a matter of world leaders, Alith."
Without letting anyone else speak, he swept his eyes around the chamber.
He looked toward Adrian and Alysia, then at Julian standing between them... and finally at .
"The eting... is postponed until tomorrow."
Alith’s face suddenly filled with unimaginable astonishnt.
"What?"
"Guards, take our guests to their rooms."
He jumped to his feet and looked at his father with bewildered eyes as if he couldn’t believe his decision.
"F- father, wait a sec-"
But he had no idea how far his father’s patience was at its limits.
"Shut up, Alith!"
His voice exploded so loudly that I, everyone else, felt the urge to cover their ears. It was so... angry, so emotional, that now not only his voice had changed but also his mana. The room was filled with trendous pressure, even for a brief mont, and the mana beca so heavy that everyone below a certain level was inevitably stunned.
Realizing what had happened, King Faelan withdrew his mana, while Alith... could not take his eyes away from his father for a second. Then those sa eyes slowly widened.
He opened his mouth to say sothing, but then, rembering what had happened, he fell silent. Gradually, the surprise disappeared from his face.
"Understood..."
His expression beca blank, his eyes cold.
"Your Royal Highness."
And... he was the first to leave the chamber.
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